A real estate trust bought single-family homes in gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhoods, renovated, and rented them out at a premium. With the trust now looking to offload the assets, tenants are left in an uncertain position, feeling like homeownership is further out of reach than ever.
Bronx
NYCHA Sees Improved Elevator Metrics, Despite Thousands of Outages a Month
Tatyana Turner |
While the number of NYCHA campuses that saw elevator outages between January and April of this year was the same as the year before, the total number of incidents—9,904—declined by more than 12 percent, and NYCHA’s response time for repairs improved.
Health and Environment
Beach Season is Here. How Clean is the Water in NYC?
Mariana Simões and Ryan Pullido |
Last season, the city’s 25 beaches saw a total of 244 closures, either because water quality exceeded the city’s safety standards—determined by testing for the bacteria found in fecal matter—or because of excessive rainfall, which increases the likelihood of pollution entering local waterways. That’s up from 94 such closures during the 2021 season.
Brooklyn
A NY Law Puts A Steep Price On ‘Serious’ Building Disrepair. These Tenants Are Fighting To Use It.
Emma Whitford |
Brooklyn tenants are trying to dismantle barriers around a seldom-used 1960s-era law that can prohibit landlords from collecting rent when they fail to fix dangerous building conditions for months on end. The campaign just had its first breakthrough.
Government
Inside the Fight to Stop Indian Point From Dumping Radioactive Water into the Hudson River
Mariana Simões |
The deactivated nuclear power plant, now run by Holtec, wants to discharge 1 million gallons of radioactive waste into the river as early as August. The dumping will release into the air and waterways an element called tritium that can increase the risk of cancer and lead to miscarriages and birth defects.
Citywide
NYCHA Plan to Put Units Under Private Management is More Than Halfway Done—But Skepticism Persists
Tatyana Turner |
More than 36,000 NYCHA apartments have either undergone conversion or are in the process of being converted to the RAD-PACT program, which officials say has helped drive billions in needed repairs. But tenants—some of whom will get a chance to vote this year on whether they want their developments to join the initiative—remain distrustful of the change.
Government
Hudson Yards Calls Itself a Model Neighborhood for Energy Efficiency. City Data Paints a Different Picture
Mariana Simões |
Hudson Yards promised to be one of the most efficient sustainable neighborhoods in the U.S. But public energy consumption data tracked by the city shows many green-certified properties in the neighborhood are failing to outperform similar buildings nationwide.
Citywide
Data Drop: NYPD Issued Majority of Street Vending Tickets in 2022
Daniel Parra |
The NYPD and the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) together doled out 5,197 tickets to vendors last year, with the police department issuing significantly more tickets, despite a de Blasio-era pledge to shift them away from enforcement. After an eight-month delay, the DOHMH will also begin issuing applications for new supervisory licenses for vendors by the end of the month.
Bronx
Buried Beneath: The Fight to Clean Up Toxic Brownfields in The Bronx
CUNY Lehman Journalism Team |
During the Fall 2022 semester, Lehman College journalism students conducted an investigation on the prevalence of toxic brownfield sites in The Bronx. Using public information, research into federal lobbying records and interviews with experts and residents, the student journalists set out to understand how this contamination happened and why progress towards remediation was so slow.
Education
The Pandemic Robbed Thousands of NYC Children of Parents. Many Aren’t Getting the Help They Need.
Liz Donovan and Fazil Khan |
Schools are uniquely positioned to identify and support grieving children, but families and school staff say the system isn’t equipped to serve them.
Economy
NYC’s Floundering ‘Right to Counsel’ Fails to Keep Pace With Eviction Cases
Frank Festa and Annie Iezzi |
The city’s trailblazing program guaranteeing legal representation to the city’s poorest tenants facing eviction has been falling short since the state eviction moratorium was lifted last year; many still face housing court alone. State officials told City Limits the program has declined more than 10,000 cases since March 2022.